Working And Going to School Full Time UW-GB RN-BSN

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Feb 27, 2011

I graduated with my ADN four years ago. I'm currently working full time and taking an online RN to BSN program. I also volunteer one day a month at a free clinic and have precepted a couple of students during the past year. It just means I don't have a lot of free time for other things but it will be worth it.

BTW, I just applied for a FNP program that is ground based and starts in March 2012. I talked with a nurse I know who did that program while working full time. It just takes some juggling and time management.

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 2, 2011

I worked 50 - 70 hours per week at my non-health care related job while I was in the ADN program. Because of the work load, which also included some business travel, I found that could only handle one course each semester, especially if there was a lab associated with it. When I started the nursing classes, things really got hectic since we had clinicals every Sat and Sun for most of the day (I was in an evening/weekend pgm) in addition to class one or 2 nights each week.

Since completing my ADN and passing the NCLEX, I've had enough free time to to volunteer again with my local fire company (I'm a firefighter/EMT) and also hope to do a few hours each week at a local community clinic. These were things that I could not do while in nursing school. Not certain as to how much time I'll be able to devote to the FD or clinic in the near future as I plan to start an on-line RN-BSN program over the summer. My guess is that I will need to adjust my volunteer schedule (i. e., reduce the hours) but I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to keep all of those balls in the air.

I think I've done reasonably well juggling work, school and family life however, I'd have to say that I personally would find it extraordinarily challenging to take a full class load while also working full-time.